1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates generally to marker devices of the kind including a plate adapted to receive an identifying message and at least one pair of arms which, facing each other, are adapted to attach the device to a support and which each incorporate a finger extending towards the plate in the gap between them.
2. Description of the prior art
Marker devices of this type are the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,658, for example.
In this U.S. patent, which is concerned in practise with the marking of electrical conductors, the plate is adapted to receive only a relatively short identifying message, a single letter or a single digit, for example, a plurality of marking devices having to be disposed side by side to make up a more complex identifying message.
The plate is therefore relatively small, and has only one pair of arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,068,600 discloses marker devices in which the plate is large enough to receive a relatively large identifying message, if not directly then at least through the intermediary of a label placed within it. This device includes two spaced separate fixing means for attaching it to an electrical conductor to be marked.
These are not arms with fingers of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,658, but rather U-shape lugs adapted to enclose part of the perimeter of the electrical conductor to which the device is fitted.
A marker device of this kind is relatively complex to manufacture and is also difficult to fit to an electrical conductor.
If arms with fingers of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,658 are substituted for the U-shape lugs, the device is easier to fit to an electrical conductor but remains complex to manufacture.
A general object of the present invention is an arrangement adapted to simplify its manufacture in this case.